Circle Out of Invite-Only Status, Enters General Availability

No doubt, Circle Internet Financial has been a huge topic of discussion in the bitcoin community. And over the past few months, they’ve been slowly allowing individuals to gain access to the platform with a $10 freebie to boot.
Now, a visit to the Circle homepage shows that users may not have to wait an exorbitant amount of time to receive their invitation via email. That’s because a sign-up form appears to be open, allowing for immediate access to Circle’s system.
It’s a massive step forward in terms of bringing their product to the market.

As you can see in the screen shot above, the form allows the end user to input their most important information as opposed to simply an email address.
By my testing, the next step asks the user to confirm their phone number and set up security questions. From there, access to the web service is immediate, though the user will not get the $10 bonus that invited users received.
The stealth launch was first observed this morning. Upon contacting Circle, I was informed by a spokesperson that they can, in fact, confirm the platform is generally available.
“After months of working with customers from more than sixty countries in an invite-only phase of our launch, we are thrilled to be in general availability. We hope today’s launch helps introduce more mainstream consumers around the world to the benefits of Bitcoin,” the company told us.
Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire published a lengthy post this morning on the Circle Blog with relation to the development.
[blockquote style=”2″]Over the past months, it has been exciting to see the Circle team grow and to see our product, operations, support, legal and compliance, security, and finance teams execute on launching our service. Importantly, though, we are just getting started. What we’ve delivered today is the beginning of an arc of innovation that we hope to keep delivering in the years to come.[/blockquote]
Because the reach of bitcoin goes far beyond the borders of any country, Circle’s initially open English, Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese (Brazilian), Spanish (Latin American), German, and French, according to the company.
International users will not, at this time, be able to connect their bank information, however. That’s expected to change as time progresses.
For the mobile users, Circle says your apps are imminent, so you can expect them to hit the markets in the very near future. In the meantime, Circle is open to feedback and suggestions as they continue the development of their product, which is now going head-to-head with Coinbase’s consumer service.
Source : http://www.newsbtc.com/2014/09/29/circle-invite-status-enters-general-availability/